


a thousand words

by quantum27



Series: a cup of good intentions (tron one shots) [4]
Category: Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Uprising
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26222635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantum27/pseuds/quantum27
Summary: Beck accidentally finds a photo from a time and place long gone.
Relationships: Beck & Tron (Tron)
Series: a cup of good intentions (tron one shots) [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872664
Comments: 14
Kudos: 30





	a thousand words

Beck let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Users, I wish he would just let me know things for once.” 

He’d gone through the entire safehouse; Tron was nowhere to be found. All the systems were still on, presumably, he must’ve only  _ just  _ left. Unless this was a test. Beck hoped it wasn’t a test. 

He was probably admittedly more concerned then he should be. This was Tron, after all. Then again,  _ this was Tron _ . Every time the mechanic thought he had a handle on what was going on in the security program’s mind everything seemed to turn upside down. 

Beck groaned to himself, there was only one room left. Tron’s quarters. He’d never been in there- had barely even seen Tron go in there even. It was still a private space, it wasn’t his place to just barge in there. He shifted his balance from one foot to the other as he stood in front of the door. The door was nearly seamless with the wall, only a slight color difference making it visible. 

“C’mon,” He told himself under his breath, “Tron could have collapsed or something and wind up derezzing just cause you didn’t go in there.” 

The reassurance did not help him. He was the Renegade, there shouldn’t be anything scary with a door. And yet…

He took a deep breath, steeling himself for anything, and then walked to the door, pressing his palm against it. It slid open, and Beck was left to stare into a soft darkness. The light from the hall revealed the room to be only a small bedroom, the bed with accompanying nightstands, and a shelf against the right side of the room. 

“Tron?” He called out, placing a hand on the doorframe as he walked in. He expected the room to light up like the rest of the safehouse usually did, all bright and smooth, illuminating everything. Instead, a soft under light turned on from under the bed. He paused, eyes flickering to the ceiling; still expectant of the usual light fare. 

Finally, he fully stepped into the room, the door sliding shut behind him. Beck blinked as his eyes readjusted to the light level again, before taking a sweep of the room. He had half-a-mind to detach his disk from his back just due to the darkness, but he pushed the thought away. 

The room was neat and tidy, but still seemed to have the look of a place that was well-lived in. Little scuffs on the floor that Tron didn’t seem to find a need to fix, a scratch on the bed frame. To the left of the bed was another door, to the fresher. He walked over to it quickly and let it’s door slide open. Like the other room, it only had a soft light, this time illuminating from behind the mirror. It was rather small, smaller than the one back in Beck’s apartment even. 

“Well, at least Tron didn’t drown in the shower or anything.” He said with a sigh of relief. Maybe he really was just panicking over nothing. He turned away from the fresher, back to the bedroom. He was all ready to simply leave the room and just wait out Tron coming back, when something on the shelf caught his eye. He glanced to the door, then back at the shelf. It couldn’t hurt to look, could it? 

Tron didn’t seem to own many personal items; whatever he had owned was probably still back in Tron City. On the shelf though were various data-pads, what looked like a light cycle baton and even a miniature lightcycle model, and a picture. It was the picture that really caught Beck’s eyes. 

He found himself reaching for it before he could help himself, to take a closer look at it. 

The picture depicted three programs with old ENCOM circuits, all holding each other by the waists, with smiles etched with laughter. It was the program on the right that had him doing a double-take. 

It was Tron with a huge grin, teeth showing, eyes crinkled. He looked so...incredibly happy, in a way that Beck had never seen him. Sure, there were moments where he’d smile just barely or smirk. However, this was full of pure joy. Beck studied the younger Tron, straining to see him as his mentor. 

Eventually, his eyes drifted to the woman in the middle. Her smile was also wide, eyes twinkling. Beck felt like he was forgetting something, like he should know her name. And it was altogether possible as well. 

Finally the program on the left; he found his hands gripping the picture tighter for a moment. He  _ looked _ like Clu. Then his logic processors seemed to overcome the burst of emotion, rationally telling him that no, this couldn’t be Clu, this was a picture from the old ENCOM system. And if it wasn’t Clu...it must be Kevin Flynn. The Creator. 

He felt a little awestruck, but not for the reason most programs probably would be. Most pictures of Flynn had been wiped from public archives after Clu took over, and he was a younger program, who didn’t even live in Tron City where the User had most frequented. He hadn’t expected the User to look so much...well so much like him or any other program. Just a regular conscript. 

Beck found himself letting out a shaky breath, he wasn’t exactly sure why his code was getting in a twist over this. It was just a picture, two of the programs (one program and a User?) he’d never even met. He looked back towards Tron, taking careful eye of his circuit patterns. They were so much more complex than the Grid’s. There was something wild about them, that vaguely reminded him of the outlands. Beck glanced down towards his own torso, towards the circuit lines that ended in little circles. These really were Tron’s circuits. He already knew that of course, but... His hand idly traced one, before going back to the picture, mimicking the motion on the picture. 

And that’s when he realized that it wasn’t just a photo- it was a video. A blue holographic play button hovered over the picture. He found his hand wavering at the prospect. This was private, one of the only personal items Tron had. 

“ _ Users delete it _ . Gah, I’m the worst.” He muttered to himself, pressing play. 

The first sound that happened was the sound of Tron’s laughter. If you could call it that; it was more like. Giggling. Beck found his face twisting in slight shock. 

The programs in the picture were seemingly trying to set up this photoshoot, but the security program was bent-over himself, his circuits brightening and dimming in time with his laughter. 

_ “I can’t believe that of all the microcycles to get Tron to start honest-to-god giggling it’s today.” _ Flynn mockingly groaned, trying to push Tron back into a proper standing position,  _ “I can’t believe you’re laughing over saying ‘cheese’. _ ” 

In response to the word, Tron doubled over even harder, snorting. Flynn rolled his eyes with a chuckle of his own. Beck felt like he was missing something. 

_ “Yori, please help me, if he doesn't stop soon, he’ll derezz. _ ” Flynn’s words were punctured with laughter of his own as he pushed the program up. 

The program Beck couldn’t place, Yori, came between them, smacking them both playfully on the back. The name sounded familiar, but not enough to bring forth any knowledge on the program.

_ “To be perfectly honest, I don’t see what’s so funny, Tron. You don’t even know what ‘cheese’ is.”  _ Her tone was teasing, and she shot a look towards the viewpoint of the capture. Beck startled as if she had looked specifically at him. 

Tron wiped tears from his eyes,  _ “I just- Users say it-” _ He wheezed,  _ “I’m sorry, I’m sorry- When they take- When they take photos.” _

_ “I don’t get why it’s so funny???” _ Flynn said in between a laugh of his own. The laughter was contagious, and Beck felt himself smile. 

_ “Alright, alright, c’mon boys, I had the capture set to vid, let’s all smile at the capture, and try to at least get one good picture, alright?” _ She tugged them both towards the direction of the capture, hooking her arms around their waists, the other two responding in turn like it was natural. 

_ “Okay,” _ Tron said finally, seeming to get out all his laughter. Then after a nanosecond, he smiled uncontrollably again,  _ “Say ‘Cheese’!!!!!!” _

The other two started laughing, saying the word with various degrees of success. The video froze, back to the picture. A moment trapped in time. 

Beck found himself staring at it, hypnotized. It was a different time, a different place, and yet, so awfully familiar. Was the interaction any different from one’s he’d had with his friends? And the thought of Tron having friends, while not impossible, was a lot different seeing it like this. Sure, there was Able. But Tron’s friendship with Able was nothing like this, and if it ever  _ was,  _ it had changed due to the strain of the state of the Grid. 

“You know, most programs don’t just wander into other program’s rooms and touch their things, Beck.” 

Beck jumped, instantly going from mechanic to Renegade, automatically reaching for his disk. Then he paused, taking a deep breath to quell the reaction. 

“Tron. I didn’t-” He stopped upon viewing the program. 

He was leaning in the doorway, backlit from the hall(And Beck realized now that he had sat on the bed at some point, Tron’s height was even more impressive from this angle,) and had a bit of an unusual expression on his face. It wasn’t angry, nor was it disappointed. Instead, it seemed almost...wistful. At least from what he could see in this low light. 

“I didn’t mean to pry. Not really.” He finished with a wince. 

Tron nodded, then walked into the bedroom, he paused by the entrance, and then pressed (flicked?) the wall. Immediately lights from the ceiling came on. They were still much dimmer than the ones in the rest of the safehouse. 

“Wha-?” 

“Lightswitch,” Tron said simply, “Very ‘ _ Analog’ _ I know. I suppose it’s a sentimental thing. Flynn had a tendency to put these in the buildings in the early days.” 

Beck felt his mouth fall open. Since when was he so casual? With the better lighting, he instantly found his eyes going to Tron’s jaw. The scar hadn’t crept up too far yet, but it was starting to. That was good news at least. 

“Kevin Flynn?” Beck asked dumbly. 

Tron twisted his mouth, somewhere between a smirk and a grimace, “ _ Just Flynn.  _ That’s what he would’ve said. I never did figure out how his full name became so commonplace. I'm fairly sure that he hated that.” 

The security program walked over to the bed and sat down next to him, taking the picture from his hands. Beck watched blankly, unsure of how to react. 

“This picture was taken before the Grid was even a thought.” He explained in a low voice, tracing the edge of the picture. 

“Okay.” Beck scanned his face. This was an invitation, apparently, a rare chance to actually find out information from him. He glanced back to the photo, before hesitantly pointing to the woman in the photo, “Uh, who was she...Yori?”

Tron clenched his jaw, eyes fluttering for a moment, “Yori...Yori was my partner.” 

“ _ Oh _ .” That was why the name was familiar. Tron had had a partner. It had probably been more widespread knowledge before Clu. 

“She was a sim-program. You’d be surprised how many functions on the Grid exist because of her.” Tron smiled with his teeth then, a rare sight. 

“What- What happened to her?” 

He sighed, looking away from Beck, then stiffly said, “I don’t know.” 

The thought of not knowing the fate of one of your love-ones was perhaps more painful than knowing. How painful it must be for him; to not know whether or not she was dead or alive; and if she’d died,  _ how _ she’d died. 

“I’m sorry.” He replied. 

“Don’t be.” 

Beck looked back towards the photo, and then back to his mentor. Once upon a time, his mentor had been the program in the photo. What would it have been like, knowing a Tron fresh off the heels of freeing an entire system, one whose worries could be wiped away by his friend’s smiles? A Tron who  _ giggled _ ? 

Beck bit his lip, and then asked, “Why...why aren’t you angry with me?” 

Tron sighed, then put the picture aside and shifted to look at him head-on. He analyzed Beck’s face, and he shifted under the intense stare. 

“Because if there’s one thing I’ve neglected, Beck, is the reason,  _ Tron _ fights.” 

He tapped the ‘T’ symbol on Beck’s chest, “ _ Tron  _ fights for the Users,” He tapped it again, “ _ Tron  _ fights for The Grid, _ ”  _ and then his hand wavered, before tapping it again, and then tapping the symbol on his own chest, “ _ We _ fight for our family, Beck.” 

Beck found his breath halting, thinking back to when he’d first met the security program. Fighting for family had been Beck’s goal from the very beginning. And yet, when it came to the legend of Tron no one ever talked about that bit- only for the Users, and the system. 

“I see you understand then.” He quieted for a moment, and then a glint came into his eye; one of the ones that looked ready to kill. “Do you know the phrase ‘a picture is worth a thousand words?’” 

“Uh, yes.” 

“It’s wrong. A thousand words doesn't even come close.” There was a growl that accompanied his words, one that Beck had a feeling was directed towards someone other than him. 

  
  
Then after a moment of silence, Tron smiled, “How about you go spend some time with your family right now, Beck?” 

He spluttered, caught off guard by the mood-whiplash, “But- But what about training!?” If there was one thing the security program insisted on, it was training, training,  _ training _ . 

Tron leveled his gaze against the younger program, then repeated “Go spend some time with your family.” No longer a question, an order, 

Beck blinked, then nodded, practically springing up from the bed. He found himself dashing to the door. 

“And Beck?” He paused, placing a hand on the doorframe to look back, “I would not drown in the  _ shower _ .” 

“How did you-?” There was a mischievous sly look on Tron’s face, and paired with the phrase it was just enough to confuse him. Beck let out a huff of a laugh, then shook his head and exited, the door sliding shut behind him. 

Tron’s face fell as the younger conscript exited. He picked up the photo, a brief, regretful smile flitting over his face. He pressed play, the audio of long-gone ghosts filling the room. 

* * *

_ “Say ‘Cheese’!!!!!!” _

He ‘tsk’ed to himself when that part played, sucking in a breath through his teeth. 

For some reason, it was still funny, even after all these cycles. 

**Author's Note:**

> me aggressively pointing at Tron and Beck's friends: PARALLELS!!!!!!!!
> 
> ok dynamically, flynn and mara would get along great...yori and zed? maybe. idk. was that intentional by the writers??? i mean you even have the death of a friend being a motivator, w/ram and bodhi. and then of course, tron and beck. 
> 
> also just wanted an excuse for beck to see a bit of 1982!tron/pre-coup!tron, (also just a sidenote, 1982!tron and uprising!tron would both totally pull out his hair if 1982!flynn interacted with beck. just pure chaos, having to deal with both of them, ((writing beck is kinda similar to writing flynn just do to the fact that they both do the 'i'm a protagonist and i talk to myself' thing, that didn't have anything to do with anything oops)))


End file.
